I also actually like Dean. I think that what he went through and and the crazy trips he went on, crazy things he did, and all the women he was with was all just part of growing up. I think now that he has a child and about to have another, he realizes he has to mature and change his ways. not only because of the child though, but i think in general he just wants to change.

about sal...especially in this reading, we see why he's so unhappy. It's because he wants what he can't have. on page 180, he said "I wished I were a denver Mexican, or even a poor overworked Jap, anything but what I was so drearily, a 'white man' disillusioned." he wants anything he doesn't have and wants to be anyone he can't be...for example: on the same page(180) he says, "I wished I were Joe" (someone he doesn't even know) Basically he wants to be anyone but himself.

I find it annoying that Sal's still traveling. He keeps going around in circles coming back to the same places, looking for something he may have missed the first time or first few times around but he never finds it because what he's looking for doesn't exist. what i mean is, he's looking for something perfect and what he sees as perfect or at least better, is a life as someone else and this is not possible. so he's looking for a new life to jump out at him on his trips but he has to realize that it's not going to happen, no matter how many times he goes back to san francisco or denver or anywhere else.
Also, throughout the whole book, everyone seems to see to assume the worst in others. I guess its because they dont trust each other. in this part, it's on page 184 when Sal talks about Dean going crazy over MaryLou and being convinced that she was a whore. it's also shown earlier on in the book when Terry and Sal thought that of each other.
speaking of that...there have been SOO many references to pimps and whore in the book...what's the significance? does it have something to do with the Beats and their beliefs at that time?